#WrestleAlexandria

Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series day three finals set

By Vinay Siwach

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (February 25) -- Six women's wrestling and two freestyle weight classes highlight day three of the Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series event in Alexandria. The previous two days have been nothing short of exceptional and expect nothing else on Saturday.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

Here are the gold medal match-ups for the evening session

50kg
Meng FAN (CHN) vs. Ziqi FENG (CHN)

53kg
Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) vs. Li DENG (CHN)

55kg
Bediha GUN (TUR) vs. Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)

59kg
Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) vs. Yuliia TKACH (UKR)

65kg Round 5
Khadija JLASSI (TUN) vs. Emma BRUNTIL (USA)
BHATERI (IND) vs. Ayatalla AHMED (EGY)

72kg
Alina RUDNYTSKA (UKR) vs. Dalma CANEVA (ITA)  

FS 97kg
Batyrbek TCAKULOV (SVK) vs. Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)

125kg
Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL) vs. Taha AKGUL (TUR) 

14:05: Li DENG (CHN) and Stalvira ORSHUSH (HUN) exchanged passivity points in their 53kg semifinal. Deng got the passivity point in the second period and kept that advantage to win 1-1 on criteria.

13:45: Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA) avenges her World Championships loss to Mengyu XIE (CHN). Winchester led 12-6 in Belgrade when she suffered an injury and lost to Xie. But in Alexandria, she controls the bout for a 4-0 win.

13:35: Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) gets the job done! She led 2-0 and then controlled the whole second period against Andreea ANA (ROU) to win the semifinal at 53kg.

13:30: Taha AKGUL (TUR) navigates through Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA). A good win there for the world champion. Gwiazdowski has troubled Akgul in the past but today the story was different. Akgul wins 7-2

13:15: Two big results at 97kg. Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) proved that the 97kg weight class is not for Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) who has been a force at 92kg. However, Firouzpour at 97kg failed to match the strength and conditioning of Baranowski who wins 6-4.

World silver medalist Batyrbek TCAKULOV (SVK) struggled a little but managed to beat Benjamin HONIS (ITA) 11-3 to advance.

13:00: Jonna MALMGREN (SWE) and Stalvira ORSHUSH (HUN) should have been a final but we have it in the quarters. Orshush put on the clock but she gets a low single to score a takedown before adding leg lace to lead 6-0. Malmgren tries the toss but fails and Orshush adds gut wrench to win 10-0. Sweden has challenged the call. No points for Malmgren as the challenge is lost. Orshush wins 11-0

12:30: Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) gets a taste of his own medicine as Vladislav BAITCAEV (HUN) scores a takedown with a second left on the clock. Baitcaev wins 6-4 to advance at 97kg.

12:10: Iulia LEORDA (MDA) can't believe she has given up a takedown at the last moment. She led 2-2 against Stalvira ORSHUSH (HUN) but could not handle the pressure Orshush was putting on her. The Hungarian wins 4-2

11:52: Taha AKGUL (TUR) with another easy win. He leg laces DINESH (IND) for an 11-0 victory at 125kg.

11:45: World champion Dom PARRISH (USA) is wrestling European champion Jonna MALMGREN (SWE) at 53kg. The Swede has the first takedown and she will go into the break leading 2-0. Parrish scores two out of bounds and takes the criteria lead. A quick double-leg from Malmgren and she retakes the lead 4-2. Solid underhook defense from Malmgren and she wins 4-2.

11:15: Ziqi FENG (CHN) and Oksana LIVACH (UKR) went allout in that 50kg bout. Livach with two takedowns to lead 4-0 but Feng then got the head pinch. She exposed Livach twice before launching her for a four. A takedown and gut gave Feng a 15-4 technical superiority win.

11:00: Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) is the latest to score a 10-0 win. She rolls over Farah HUSSEIN (EGY) with ease to move at 59kg.

10:50: Madison PARKS (CAN) is an underrated wrestler. She has now racked up so many good wins. Include the latest one as she beats Emilia VUC (ROU) 9-3 at 50kg.

10:30: Taha AKGUL (TUR) is such a calm wrestler. There are no signs of panic in his body language. In his first bout of the day, he casually moves past Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) at 125kg.

10:15: European champion Tatiana RIZKHO (UKR) with some early action in Alexandria. She hits a foot sweep and scores a fall over BHATERI (IND) to win at 65kg. 

10:00: Welcome to yet another exciting day of wrestling in the historical city of Alexandria. We are done with Greco-Roman and it will be all about women's wrestling and freestyle today.

#WrestleAlexandria, #WrestleParis

Samoa, Australia, South Africa end Olympic drought with Paris spots in Alexandria

By Vinay Siwach

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (March 24) -- Seven nations shared the 12 Paris Olympics Freestyle quotas on the final day of the African & Oceania OG Qualifiers in Alexandria.

Hosts Egypt led the way with four quotas while Australia and Guinea Bissau won two each. Samoa, Algeria, South Africa and Nigeria won one each to complete the line-up.

Samoa qualified for the first time in Freestyle as Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM) dominated his bouts to win the quota. Paris will also mark the first Samoan wrestler at the Olympics since Sydney 2000. Akazawa, a former Japanese high school star who moved to Samoa in 2017, defeated Wotna NDOC (GBS) via fall in the first period of the 65kg semifinal.

Georgii OKOROKOV (AUS) also ended an eight-year wait for Australia as he qualified at 65kg after winning the other semifinal. He defeated Manaceu NGONDA (ANG) 10-0.

A little later, Jayden LAWRENCE (AUS) earned a Paris quota at 86kg with a thrilling 4-4 win over Harrison ONOVWIOMOGBOHWO (NGR) in the semifinals. 

Onovwiomogbowho scored a takedown, earned another point for Lawrence's passivity and added a stepout to build a 4-0 lead in the semifinal. Lawrence put all his energy into scoring a takedown in the second period but found it difficult. He ultimately hit a cut back which made Onovwiomogbohwo fall on his back, giving Lawrence four points.

Lawrence kept his 4-4 criteria lead for the final two minutes and earned a Paris 2024 quota.

Tokyo Olympian Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG) joined him as the qualified wrestler for Paris as he defeated Cedric ABOSSOLO (CMR) 7-0 and won the ticket.

South Africa will also be back in the Olympics after 16 years Nicholas de LANGE (RSA) qualified the country at 97kg after he defeated Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN)via fall. The former U20 world medalist convincingly won both bouts.

Mostafa ELDERS (EGY) was surprised by Wali KEBIR (ALG) who scored three points on Elders but the Egyptian never lost his cool and posted an easy 15-3 victory.

Egypt qualified three more weight classes, 57kg, 74kg and 125kg, with Amr REDA (EGY) leading from the front. The ever-consistent Reda took just 33 seconds after the first period to win the quota after beating Rayanne ESSAIDI (MAR), 11-0. His previous two wins of the day were via falls.

At 125kg, Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY) survived a scare to beat Modou FAYE (SEN), 3-3, in the semifinals and qualify for the Games. He got a 1-0 lead after Faye was called passive but no additional points were scored in the first period.

Faye was put on the activity clock again in the second period this time he hit a single-leg attack to takedown. Abdelmottaleb was put on the activity clock late in the bout and failed to score, giving one more point to Faye who now led 3-1 with just over a minute left.

Abdelmottaleb scored a takedown using a go-behind to take a 3-3 criteria lead and defended it for the last 28 seconds to qualify for the Olympics.

Gamal MOHAMED (EGY) did not face any troubles as he won the 57kg place with an easy 8-0 win over KHALIL BARKOUTI (TUN) in the semifinal.

Two of the remaining three spots were captured by Guinea Bissau as Tokyo Olympian Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS) won at 57kg, rolling to a 10-0 win over Suraj SINGH (NZL) while 74kg African champion Bacar NDUM (GBS) defeated Oyeinkeperemo BRAVEMAN (NGR), 10-2, in his semifinal.

The second 125kg quota was won by Ashton MUTUWA (NGR) who was involved in a high-scoring bout against Justin VAN ZYL (RSA) before winning via fall.

sdfgd

RESULTS

57kg Paris Olympic Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS) df. Suraj SINGH (NZL), 10-0
SF 2: Gamal MOHAMED (EGY) df. KHALIL BARKOUTI (TUN), 8-0

65kg Paris Olympic Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Georgii OKOROKOVV (AUS) df. Manaceu NGONDA (ANG), 10-0
SF 2: Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM) df. Wotna NDOC (GBS), via fall (4-2)

74kg Paris Olympic Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Amr REDA (EGY) df. Rayanne ESSAIDI (MAR), 11-0
SF 2: Bacar NDUM (GBS) df. Oyeinkeperemo BRAVEMAN (NGR), 10-2

86kg Paris Olympic Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG) df. Cedric ABOSSOLO (CMR), 7-0
SF 2: Jayden LAWRENCE (AUS) df. Harrison ONOVWIOMOGBOHWO (NGR), 4-4

97kg Paris Olympic Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA) df. Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN), via fall (5-2)
SF 2: Mostafa ELDERS (EGY) df. Wali KEBIR (ALG), 15-3

125kg Paris Olympic Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY) df. Modou FAYE (SEN), 3-3
SF 2: Ashton MUTUWA (NGR) df. Justin VAN ZYL (RSA), via fall (16-8)